24 room JUNE 2012 "We prefer to have good carpets and good art," says Paula weigel, as she explains their choice of whtie wall color. works by Tomas Lasansky add life to the living and dining areas.

roomJUNE 2012 25By KATHY WEISSPhotos by REGGIE MORROWPaula Weigel has made Peacetoand entertainroomgrowwith the household clutter that accumulates with a family of six. Add an Austrian au pair, and Micah, the Irish terrier, and no matter how tidy her Manville Heights home might be an hour after they all leave in the morning, she accepts the reality that it won't last."It's clean for about six hours . until everybody gets home," she says with a grin. A Des Moines native and University of Iowa graduate who will soon earn her Ph.D. from the College of Public Health, Paula is married to Ron Weigel, professor and head of the Department of Surgery at UI, and the two are parents to Gabriel, Charlotte, Isaac and John. The family spent several years on the West and East coasts before landing here in Iowa City in 2005, when their youngest was just 12 days old."We were ready for a family-friendly place," Paula recalls candidly of the years parenting small children in Philadelphia. "I love the coasts, but it's very expensive and life is more complicated there. This was the right place for us."On a visit here before the move, she met with a Realtor, who took her by the house on Black Springs Circle, built in 1996 for the Charles Saltzman family. "I just saw it, walked in and knew it was the house for us. Our life is within two miles of here," she said, noting University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where Ron works, and the kids' school, Lincoln Elementary, just down the street."It was very well laid out, contemporary and efficient," she said of the spacious six-bedroom, two-story with winter views of the Iowa River. "It had a good layout for family living - for how we like to live." ?